An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 hit the western Caribbean on Saturday night, which caused a tsunami notice for the Cayman Islands, since Puerto Rico and the virgin islands of the United States were authorized of the threat.
The tremor hit at 6:23 pm et at a depth of approximately 6 miles under the ground, about 130 miles south-southwest of George Town, Cayman Islands, according to the United States Geological Service.
“The Cayman Islands are under a threat of tsunami. Residents are encouraged near the coast to move inland, “said the Government of the Danger Management Agency of the Cayman Islands.
The agency asked residents along the coast to move to a higher land when warning about the possible activity of the Tsunami within an hour after the notice.
The Danger Management Agency of the Cayman islands described the tsunamis as deceptively powerful, sometimes measuring only 1.5 feet but moving water in a wave that can have 50-60 miles wide. The overwhelming water flow of such wave is its most detrimental element, said the agency, with a revealing sign of a tsunami in progress, being a sea quickly that goes back ahead of the rush of the sea.
The US Tsunami warning system said that Cuba was under a similar threat: a tsunami that measures between about 3 feet and 10 feet high.
An advisor to Tsunami of the National Meteorological Service from Cancele urged the residents of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to take measures because a tsunami with waves or hazardous currents expected or was happening, according to the agency.
Governor Jenniffer González Colón de Puerto Rico advised residents to “leave the water immediately, especially on the west and southern coast of the island”, as a precaution, according to a statement.
“Although no important impact event is anticipated, such as security caution, no one should be in the water until it is coming,” he said.
The USGS initially measured the earthquake in a massive 8.0, but then reevaluated its energy and determined that it measured 7.6.
Because the tremor was located under an island surrounded by the Caribbean, according to the Usgs mapping, the agency said that “little or no population” was exposed to the tremor.
The USGS placed the earthquake in a slip failure near the border between the tectonic plates of North America and the Caribbean.
“The big earthquakes in this place of the plate limit are not unexpected,” the agency said in an analysis published on its website on Saturday night.
He said that 10 or greater magnitude have happened in the area in the last century. One of the most notable earthquakes in the region took place on January 10, 2018, when a tremor of magnitude 7.5 “caused some damage and a small tsunami,” said the USGS.
“Fortunately, the remote location of these earthquakes limits the potential for significant damage due to shaking,” he said.
